Hi everyone, new and old alike!

It’s so interesting to see how you’re all faring- scales, weight, hunger, calories, exercise and how we all manage the various complex details…..just remember it’s a slow and steady journey towards good health. Impatiently racing towards an ideal goal weight, at the expense of a sensible and sustainable way of eating/life, will inevitably set you up for disappointment.

Be your own best friend. Give yourself caring and kind feedback, rather than haranguing and nagging yourself about achieving some form of ‘perfection’.

View this as a new way of living for the long term, to assist preventing and reversing issues like higher blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, some cancers and cardiacvascular deterioration. There’s also good news about this 5:2, assisting inflammatory issues, such as IBS and psoriasis.

That’s enough, I’m getting off my soapbox now.

I just wanted to tell you all that I’m nearly 23 kg lighter (22.8), after 18 months and one week of 5:2 !
Feeling so much more healthy and moving so much easier now.

Less depression and feelings of doom too, I’m feeling much more upbeat. I’ve started some brain-training as well as sudoku and scrabble online, to keep my brain thoroughly well exercised. I’m enjoying it and aim to beat the computer with my scrabble games…..haha! Might take a while!

Well have a lovely weekend everyone! Cheers for now.

Thank you for your wise words ihaw. Very good advice that I needed this morning after hoping on the scales and seeing them stay exactly the same as last week. I spent a good fifteen minutes despairing and then pulled myself together. My waist is smaller so my organs are happier, my skin is bright and clear, my IBD symptoms seem to be improving (an unexpected side effect) and my mood is much improved. I’m two kilos off my goal and if I don’t reach it I am still very happy with the other benefits this wol is giving me.

Hi all
end of my 6th week and fd, stomach grumbling.. I am ready for breakfast! Bit difficult last night as kids decided they needed food cooked just before I thought I was over the difficult time and ready for bed. I was proud of myself as I then watched a cooking program(what was I thinking) and I didn’t eat a thing.My body said “your OK you don’t need it!””. Weigh in this morning was worth it…I lost another kg…and some cms.Soup is working for me on fd! I will change from a 4:3 to 5:2now.

BKDad keep the bragging coming.You are inspiring and gave me a laugh….thanks for reminding me/us to take things lightly, not so seriously.

8forLinda,macandmui,I am heading to 60 as well,or size 10 whatever fits my frame better. I am 158cm high.I am so happy to finally see 69kg (be in the 60s)after 12 years.My thyroid starting playing up after my last child and I went from a 60kg to 80kg.Gee it creeps up.

I have taken on all your advice,keep it coming. Its a great lifeline.

Hi everyone, I’ve had a couple of weeks break from 5:2 as I became unwell and unfortunately that has developed further into bronchitis. Hopefully the new lot of medicine will get that under control quickly. On a positive note I am maintaining and slightly losing (about 100gm a day) my weight. This is due to a combination of my medications making me feel nauseous, not having any snacks in the house and no money to buy snacks! Hopefully back into it next week but only health permitting.
HB

Wow, IHAW – 23 kgs, what an achievement, congratulations; HB – hope you’re feeling better soon and sorry about the cat Charlie.

Whinge alert: Today I’ve had my first set-back on this new WOL after notching up 20 successful, easy fast days. I found a recipe on goodtoknow.co.uk for Chinese dumplings 63 cals a portion. After eating three, I began to get suspicious. Double checked, yep, “16 dumplings” in the ingredients and ‘serves 2’ confirmed that a portion must be 8 dumplings. It even says, “Yes, you read that right, 63 cals a portion!”. Ate two more. After all, the recipe falls under ‘meals under 200 calories’ so it can’t be 63 cals per dumpling if you’re getting eight of them. Triple-checked with OH (who wasn’t saying much and probably couldn’t believe his luck getting this much food on a fast day) but agreed with me – 8 dumplings per serve. I am so cross with myself for relying on this. Checking elsewhere, it seems it’s more like 40 cals per dumpling. I was so annoyed with my stupidity that I ate two more…… 280-441 cals depending on who you believe. I’ve already had 114 cals for breakfast. Ok, there’s my rant. Now for the help please – do I:

a) consider this a not-so-well-done fast day and just move on?
b) eat myself silly for the rest of the today and try again tomorrow?
c) accept that, although the health benefits of fasting are blown, maybe another long walk will result in an OK weight tomorrow?
d) none of the above?

Apart from all that, I am pleased to report that after 10 weeks, I have lost 5.1 kgs so overall, I am happy – it just doesn’t seem like it right now.

Thanks Nama! Good advice – I’m already starting to laugh a bit about it. I guess it says a lot for all the great contributors on here that I came here first. Tomorrow’s another day, eh?

thinatlast I had to laugh at your comment about your OH not saying much – exactly what I would do if someone was giving me dumplings on a fast day 🙂

Hello to Southern Hemispherites from Tasmania, Aus! I started 5:2 after bursting into tears on the scales. Changed my attitude about food and exercise. Did heaps of research to see that this suited me. Started 3 weeks ago. I have lost 2kg so far. Its so encouraging to see results, no matter how small. I have so much more energy and am coping really well with the fast days!
It is so encouraging to see others still having results after sticking at it for months!

Congratulations samechilcott, I agree, it doesn’t matter how slowly it comes off as long as it’s a downward trend overall – and MrsMiniMum, how encouraging to have shed all that weight in one year.

You ask how others maintain – my OH started this with me about 10 weeks ago and quickly realised he couldn’t afford to keep losing any more weight so went to 6:1. He basically mainlines food on the 6 feast days. So, it’s a big breakfast (toast wafting through the house), doorstep sandwiches for lunch and a hearty dinner plus all his usual snacks between meals. I don’t think that’s what you intend though. From what I’ve read, to maintain weight on 6:1, you would eat ‘normally’ on the non-fast 6 days. I expect you’d have to play around a little to see what works – since you’ve discovered 6:1 doesn’t work well for you. There are some great gurus on here and I’m sure they have some useful tips for once that goal weight has been achieved.

Hi Everyone,
I like reading all the posts and am trying to keep track of everyone and how they are doing.
I had a disappointing week, I put on 0.1kg. I have been doing this for nearly two months now and haven’t lost a lot 3 kg maybe. I know it is supposed to be a slow process but I have a wedding next Saturday and hoped to be in the under 60kgs. I got excited as I was 60.9 a week ago and then was 61 on Friday my last fast day of the week. I have been measuring and not a lot there either. I have only lost couple of cms. I stated in August.

I’ve had my grumble now. Fast day tomorrow. I stay under 400 cals on fast days and try to stay under my tdde of 1553. I use my fitness pal to keep track but it is in kj’s but some of the measurements are in ounces, so maybe my calculations aren’t the best.

Am I being too impatient.
Good luck for the incoming week I hope the kg and cm’s fall for us all.
Jane

Hi Talar and welcome:

Well, you are not correct.

You eat 500 calories or less on your diet days and your TDEE or less on your non diet days. If your TDEE is less than 2000, it is no surprise you did not lose weight.

In addition, 5:2 is a slow weight loss diet, not a quick weight loss diet. With the body able to gain or lose two or more pounds a day, it is quite easy to go a week and not lose, or even gain a bit.

You need to do 5:2 for at least a couple of months to figure out how it works for you, but if you do it correctly for two months, you will probably not quit.

Here are some tips: http://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/. Number 4 will explain TDEE.

Good Luck!

Short time lurker first time poster….
Well I saw the BBC programme replayed a month or so ago and decided that this was something worth considering. I’d already looked at Brad Pilon’s Eat, Fast, Eat but the show really got me hooked on the idea of IF.
So last Tuesday I started a 4 day fast which finished Saturday morning. Starting weight 120.1Kg finished at 116.5Kg I was pretty impressed with the 3.6 Kg loss. But I knew a lot of it was likely to be water so I didn’t get too excited. This morning after two days of regular eating, not to any plan, just ate when I was hungry, no calorie counting. Weighed in this morning at exactly where I finished on Saturday.
Initial thoughts about the 4 day fast, not as tough as I thought it would be. No fainting, no headaches, hungry sometimes but keeping busy was the key. I had coffee during the day and since I don’t drink latte’s or a lot of milk it wasn’t a big stretch, clear beef broth at night around 50 Cals. Never looked forward to a bowl of soup as much 🙂 I did notice I was quite thirsty but I just stayed hydrated. One challenging thing was ignoring the random thoughts about food that would creep it at odd times just made me realise (yet again) how much of what we do with our bodies and food is just habitual.
Today I’m rolling in to a 4:3 plan which I’m going to change to 5:2 in a couple of weeks (only because we are cruising to Noumea!). I’ll update in a week or so.
Congrats to all who on here who are kicking goals 🙂

Morning all, first fd of the week for me before I head off tomorrow to Grade 7 camp as a parent helper for three days! I am slightly dreading the noise and slightly excited about the food – I have visions of the meals of my childhood being recreated – basically a dinner plate with more protein and carbs stuffed on it than any human could possibly consume. I fear I may be disappointed. It will probably be all steamed fish and micro greens – this generation are completely mollycoddled 🙂
Hope everyone has a great week.

Morning all, just a quick question. The Slendier noodles that I have heard about on here, can you buy them in Melbourne? And if so where can I find them? Have had a look online at Coles and Woolies but they don’t look like they stock in Victoria.

Slendier noodles are in Coles. They have changed the packaging recently. ..now a cardboard box.
Their website is http://www.slendier.com.au
Try that for outlets. Be sure to rinse them really well and don’t cook, just toss them in to a highly flavoured stir ‘fry’ or pasta sauce and warm through. Very filling and low low cal! P
ps They are in the health food section of Coles. …I always have trouble finding them but they will be there. Very popular these days (thanks Dr M)

Thanks Purple, will search for them. Look out Coles staff I’m gonna hassle you today! 😉

jenklar, even all those years ago when I was on year 7 camp they made us run on the beach before breakfast and there was only vitabriz, wholemeal toast or poached eggs for breakfast – no bacon, no sugar (but we were encouraged to use honey if we were used to a little sugar on the vitabritz or in a cup of cocoa). It was all lean meat and steamed veggies. Even if the food isn’t what you were looking forward to, it’s still nice to not have to cook for a few days – enjoy!

Hi all – oldies and newbies,
I haven’t checked in for a while. Life got a bit frantic. NOT a good time to play around with maintenance. I’ve popped back up out of the healthy weight range, and will be strictly 5:2ing again until life settles down and I can trust myself again. For me, it looks like maintenance really does need to be 5:2 rather than 6:1. I have a low TDEE (155cm tall) and I need the twice weekly fast to keep my cravings at bay. Practising saying “no” to myself twice a week really does help on feast days, when I can enjoy a small portion of a treat rather than the whole packet. :/ Clearly I wasn’t ready to loosen up my rules. It only took visiting parents, a new Uni course and a toddler’s birthday to derail me. LOL.
Back to “normal” from today and my body is already thanking me for it.

Posting at work, so being quick and sorry no personals

Sigh – weighed in this morning and gained 900g!!!! Fasted Mon and Wed last week. Think my weekend was probably too much (two outings) and maybe overdoing it on FD’s (damn those lattes). My weekend was pretty carb loaded.

Pretty gutted, but as today is a FD I will just keep on going. Did not have breakfast this morning and actually felt fine. Just going to have liquids at work and will probably just have soup for dinner. Thursday will be my next FD and the weekend is looking clear for outings, so fingers crossed I get into the swing of things and weight loss starts to happen.

It just seems 6 days of “normal” eating is too much of a slippery slope for most of us. I know I need 2 fasts a week to maintain.
Call me odd, but I now find it quite fun to go up to the local shopping centre on a fast day. The number of obese people I see utterly inspires me to stick to the fast. I’ve just done it now. I’m the crazy one with the self satisfied smile on my face. Sure better than pie sauce 😉 P

Hi Everyone, today is my first fasting day and I have made it through to 5pm with only a cupasoup. Usually I am always OK at work but when I go home I find it difficult especially cooking for my husband and daughter. I think I may be in bed very early tonight! Will this cause a problem?

Hi thinatlast
I love the idea of a narrow boat. We are going to be on a cruise ship so there will be plenty of choices, probably none of them any good! What I am finding with IF is if I don’t have to make a choice ie I am on a fast day life becomes so much less complicated. You are right about being able to get on and off the narrow boat and being able to source healthy foods. You’ll be passing lots of little market towns along the canals and from what I saw you’ll be spoilt for choice with good local produce at most of them.

Well done birdlady, but if you want to fit into that dress only have a couple of teaspoons of the bircher with heaps of strawberries and blueberries. Keep the carbs low (especially at breakfast) even on non fast days if you want to hit the magic 59s. 😉 PVE

Thanks Purple Veggie Eater. I had my last normal meal on Sunday at 6:30pm. Yesterday I had 450 cals. I Thought I would be starving today but I’m not. I think im going to fast today too!

Hi everyone. I am a bit disheartened at the moment. This is my 5th week of 5:2. the first couple of weeks were good (about 2.6kgs down), but last week I didn’t lose anything. This week, even after my best fast day ever (I didn’t eat anything until 7pm, and then only a small amount) I have managed to put on a whole 1kg. I didn’t feel like I over ate on most non fast days except for Sunday night, when I went to say goodbye to my neice who is moving interstate. I had 2 wines, a chicken meal with white sauce and a chocolate moose. I know that was bad, but a whole kilo! Anyway I decided to check what my TDEE was, I assumed it wouldn’t be too low as my doctor told me that I am classed as obise. I am 160cm tall and around 84kg. I was really surprised that it is only 1698 which means f/d should be under 424. I have been over eating!! Even though I didn’t want to count cals. on non fast days (years of counting points on weight watchers, has put me off) I think I will have too. I also decided to have a look at the forum for woman of a certain age, (I’m 50). It was reasuring to find that woman going through menopause are finding it harder to lose weight than they did a few years back. The average is only about 200gs a week, with my ups and downs I have lost about 1.6kg in 4 weeks, which doesn’t seem so bad if you look at it that way. Just got to make sure that I don’t put on a kg again this week. I also had bad meopause symtons this week (lots of hot flushes and felt depressed all week for no reason), I wondered how much that has affected my weight as well. Anyway I am not giving up, I believe in this WOL and I will just have to try harder and believe that I can do this. Its my fast day today and so far, so good, its lunch time and I haven’t had anything. I will try to hang out until tea, and then make sure I stay under 424 (shouldn’t be too hard, if only having one meal). Happy fasting to all.